Father Christmas, Give Us Some Money

Technically it's a post that has nothing to do with money, but everything to do with some GAMING!

Yesterday Mr. Molyneux and I got together - that's right, ON A WEDNESDAY - and played two games of 40k. To close out the Ladder of Iron 2009, we threw down in two 2000 point match-ups.

First off was a Annihilation (Kill Point) mission, featuring my Necrons versus Jeff's Tyranids. The Tin Shooters versus the choppy choppy bugs.

My army:

Necron Lord with Veil of Darkness and Resurrection Orb
4 Pariahs
10 Flayed Ones
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
10 Warriors
7 Scarab bases
5 Destroyers
5 Destroyers
Tomb Spider with Particle Projector
Tomb Spider with Particle Projector

Goals:

Set up solid shooting base with the Warriors. Have the Pariahs and Scarabs ready for counter-assault and to deter assaults. The Lord takes one unit of Warriors on a Veil of Darkness teleport hop around the board to rapid fire on targets of opportunity and then teleport out when things get messy. The Destroyers are solid mobile firepower - 15 shots at BS 4, STR 5 and AP 4. Keep them flying around and throwing their small bucket of dice at units. Tomb Spiders have some threat ability against the big nasties and can POSSIBLY tie up weak hand-to-hand units for several turns due to their high Toughness.


Jeff's List (as best as I remember it)

Hive Tyrant with Venom Cannon, Bonesword and Lashwhip (upgraded Save)
4 Warriors - 3 Deathspitters, 1 Venom Cannon. 3 with Scything Talons, 1 with Rending Claws (upgraded Strength and Save)
20 Termagaunts with Fleshborers (upgraded Strength)
20 Termagaunts with Fleshborers (upgraded Strength)
20 Termagaunts with Fleshborers, Scuttlers, and Without Number
12 Genestealers (Scuttlers, upgraded saves)
12 Genestealers (Scuttlers, upgraded saves)
Carnifex with Scything Talons and Crushing Claws (upgraded Strength and Save and Wounds)
Carnifex with Barbed Strangler (upgraded Save)

Comments: It was small for a Tyranid list, and very heavy on upgrades. I'm not sure if Jeff is just testing out the waters on the upgrades (he has only played the army a handful of times) or if he had to boost to get to 2000 points. Regardless despite the small number of models it was a very tough army to crack.

Highlights/Lowlights:

1. I was a little too aggressive with my Veil of Darkness, which only landed directly on target ONCE in the 3 or 4 times I used it. Other times it strayed very close to the Carnifexes, who punished me. Still this did pull the Carnifexes away from my shooting base AND thanks to the magic of my Resurrection Orb I was able to We'll Be Back! some of the downed models. Up until the point where my luck faded and I deviated right between the two Carnifexes and the Hive Tyrant. Jeff killed about 5 guys including my Lord, and the rest tried to rout, but got run down.
2. My Flayed Ones Outflanked, but failed to get themselves close enough to the Hive Tyrant like I'd hoped. Even if they weren't able to kill him, I figured they would tie him up for the rest of the game. Sadly they didn't make it, but racing up behind them was one unit of Outflanked Genestealers who ate them as a high-iron lunch.
3. Likewise on my right flank I strayed one of my units of Destroyers too close to table edge and the other Outflanking unit of Genestealers rended right through them.
4. I actually did quite a number on the Termaguants and Genestealers once I could get a shooting bead on them - I wiped them out, and the Without Number unit died TWICE. But the Monstrous Creatures did me in.
5. Pariahs have their uses, but they are SO damned expensive for what they do. They don't get We'll Be Back and they have a barely improved statline. I'll continue to TRY and find a place for them, but having them shoot and charge Termagaunts, while fun, was certainly not worth their investment.
6. Tomb Spiders - actually did surprisingly okay against one Carnifex, delivering a few wounds. (Jeff's bad dice helped) But them only have 2 wounds and a 3+ save is crippling.
7. Big mistake for me - throwing away my Scarabs at Jeff's Tyranid Warriors. I was thinking that they might tie them up for a few rounds and MAYBE even chew through them. This was dumb - the Tyranid Warriors shooting had be almost completely ineffective, but their hand-to-hand ability was more than capable of slicing and dicing the Scarabs. A give-away Kill Point here.
8. This game WOULD NOT END. I think we played a total of 8 turns - we kept rolling for it and getting more turns.

Final Score was 10-7. Tyranids win.

Final stuff on the board:

4 Destroyers
8 Warriors

Hive Tyrant (unwounded)
Carnifex with Barbed Strangler (unwounded)
Carnifex with Scything Talons and Crushing Claws (one wound left)
20 Termagaunts (the Without Number ones, who were on their 3rd respawn)


Game 2!

Tau versus Chaos Space Marines. Mission: Seize Ground, 4 Objectives.

My List:

Shas'O with Cyclic Ionic Blaster, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker (lets me fire two weapons per turn), plus Iridium Armor (gives 2+ save) and Stimulant Booster (gives Feel No Pain)
3 Crisis Suits with Plasma Gun, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker
2 Crisis Suits with Plasma Gun, Missile Pod and Multi-Tracker
6 Stealth Suits, one with Fusion Blaster

12 Fire Caste Warriors with Pulse Rifle
12 Fire Caste Warriors with Pulse Rifle
12 Fire Caste Warriors with Pulse Rifle
12 Kroot with 2 Kroot Hounds

5 Pathfinders in Devilfish
5 Pathfinders in Devilfish
2 Piranhas with Decoy Launchers (lets me force enemy to re-roll Glancing Hits)

Hammerhead with Railcannon and SMS
Hammerhead with Railcannon and SMS
2 Broadsides with Twin-Linked Railcannons, SMS, Drone Controllers with 2 Fire Drones

Goals:

Fire Caste Warriors and Broadsides dig in and pour fire on anything and everything that doesn't have Blue skin. (the Kroot had better duck!) The Kroot and Stealthsuits Outflank and force the enemy to either well-protect or come back and re-take any "home" objectives. The Crisis Suits, commander, Pathfinders and Piranhas pick one objective and push the enemy off it.


Jeff's List (as best as I recall)

Daemon Prince of Tzeentch with Bolt of Change
Sorceror of Tzeenth on a Disc of Tzeentch with Bolt Pistol and Force Weapon

Dreadnought with....I'm totally not sure, I never let it shoot!

Sorceror with Bolt of Change with 8 Thousand Sons.
Sorceror with Bolt of Change with 8 Thousand Sons.
Sorceror with Bolt of Change with 8 Thousand Sons.

Defiler with twin-linked Lascannons
3 Obliterators
3 Obliterators


Highlights/Lowlights

1. My Railcannons on the Hammerheads missed almost every freaking shot. They need 3+. I rolled ones and twos. Constantly.
2. Crisis Suits do NOT do well against Thousand Sons. I lost every suit thanks to their AP 3 bolters.
3. On the other hand, Thousand Sons are very expensive but die like a normal Marine against a hail of Pulse Rifle shots.
4. Dreadnoughts and Defilers really aren't found of Railcannons, and my Broadside suits, UNLIKE my Hammerheads, demonstrating their Killing POWER by popping both of them.
5. Sadly BOTH of my Outflanking units showed up on the wrong side and played no further part in the game EXCEPT reinforcing one of the objectives that I already firmly possessed (admittedly, with a non-scoring unit, but STILL)
6. Jeff's Daemon Prince was a tank killing machine despite needing 6's to hit them in hand-to-hand. He ripped open both a Devilfish and a Hammerhead. But then he faced a Fire Caste Warrior firing line (one squad, when he already had 2 wounds, marched up and gave him the other 2. Bye!) and died.
7. Had this game gone one for one more turn I probably could have at least contested one if not eliminate one of Jeff's objectives (one was held by a full squad, but one only had a Sorceror and single Thousand Son alive on it) to take the win. Alas we rolled and it was done after turn 5.
8. FOR THAT MATTER I was marching a unit of Fire Caste Warriors over to the objective but they were too far away to shoot while moving. What I SHOULD have done was stand still, fire, and hopefully from the 10 shots, 5 hit, 3 wound...and maybe kill the two guys. I had raced my Piranhas over there to kill them but they both missed with their Fusion Blasters (It's amazing how inaccurate a 4+ shot can be!) and then the Obliterators smacked them around.

2-2 Tie

Still alive on my side:

6 Stealthsuits
10 Fire Caste Warriors (holding an objective)
10 Fire Caste Warriors
12 Kroot with 2 Kroothounds (holding an objective)
1 Piranha
1 Hammerhead
1 Broadside suit

Still alive on Jeff's side:

Sorceror with 1 Thousand Son (holding an objective)
Sorceror with 8 Thousand Sons (holding an objective)
2 Obliterators
2 Obliterators


Great games. Glad to close out the year with some GAMING!